


Drop

by Morpheus626



Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26037319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: Brian and swimming pools, what is the attraction? He couldn’t tell you, and neither could anyone else.But they make good rewards, in terms of places to relax, after doing something heroic.Fair warning, this is...incredibly silly. But, I was struggling to focus on the other things I was trying to work on tonight, so I’m hoping this has cleared my brain a little. And silly as it is, I hope folks will enjoy it!
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	Drop

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this gif: https://aboutthatmelancholystorm.tumblr.com/post/627108927408144384/tenderbri-further-pool-tomfoolery-with-brian-may made by @tenderbri on Tumblr!

The sound of splashing had stopped being alarming to them, by now, even as the heads of everyone around them turned.

“Mr. May is in the pool?” asked the hotel worker helping them with their bags. “We...would you all rather go there first, then to your rooms?” 

“No, no,” Freddie assured him. “He’ll be back in a moment. See, there he comes.” 

They chuckled as he shook his hair out over the pool, slipped his clogs back on, and trotted back into the lobby through the back lounge area, dripping the whole way. 

“Wh-why...” the worker stammered. “Um.” 

“We’ve got it from here,” Roger said softly. “Thank you. Might want to grab a mop, for the flooring. Real hardwood, isn’t it?” 

“I...it’s laminate, maybe, I don’t...I’ll get a mop,” the worker mumbled a little bit sadly, and left them alone with the cart bearing their luggage.

“You absolutely befuddled the shit out of that poor young man,” Freddie said to Brian as he reached them. “I would ask what possessed you to do that, but I know-” 

“It just looks like fun,” Brian interrupted. “And no one was using it, so why not?” 

“Yet when we go down to the pool later,” John said. “You’ll end up reading in a lounge chair the entire time, won’t you?” 

Brian patted John’s face with a wet hand. “You do know my moods, don’t you?” 

John face stayed stagnant, but he sighed. “You are...so wet. And you simply had to touch me, didn’t you?” 

Brian shook his hair a bit again, and grinned. 

John scoffed and took over the cart, leading them into the elevator. “Can we please get to our rooms without any other interference or detours?” 

“I don’t know,” Roger replied, hissing as John pressed the button for the third floor. “You could start by sending us to the right floor.” 

“We’re on the second,” Freddie murmured. 

“We’re on the fourth,” Brian said. 

“That worker had the keys for our rooms...” John said quietly.

Then. A loud crash and clunk somewhere above them, and the elevator stopped moving. 

“Not fucking again,” Roger scoffed. 

“At least it wasn’t our fault this time?” Brian mused. “Not jumping about enough to break it.” 

“True, but,” Freddie sighed. “I really didn’t want to die in a lift with you all the first time, and I’d rather not now either. Nothing against any of you, of course.” 

“No, I get it,” Brian said. “I don’t think anyone intends to die in a lift.” 

“Well, we’ve got plenty of time to find the philosophical answer to that, don’t we?” Roger spat, and winced as he managed to sit on the floor of the elevator in what little room there was. “Fuck’s sake.” 

“Don’t pout,” John groused. “There’s a phone, help will be on the way shortly, you pompous little prince.” 

“Oh I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you wanted to spend this tour in a lift,” Roger said sarcastically. “How do you intend to play, from here, John? Do tell me.” 

“Brian, could you drown him a bit the next time you go to the pool?” John asked cheerfully as he tapped at the pad of the phone, the panel door for it hanging open. 

“No one is drowning anyone,” Freddie said. “Honestly, I knew from the flight over we were all in the bitchiest moods, but really...” 

“I do want to go back to the pool though,” Brian remarked. “But no, I’m not going to drown Rog.”

“Thanks,” Roger grumbled. “How kind of you.” 

“Erm,” John said. “The phone doesn’t seem to work.” 

“That’s not funny,” Freddie smiled. “How long till they get to us?” 

“I’m not joking,” John said. “It’s dead.” 

“And so are we!” Roger crowed. “Fantastic.” 

“Children, please,” Freddie sighed. “There’s got to be something else we can do then. Ideas?” 

Three hands went up.

“Dying in this lift is not an acceptable suggestion.” 

Three hands went down. 

“I think I can reach the panel up top,” Brian said. “That’s interesting.” 

“I’m so glad you are delighted by this moment,” Roger scoffed. “I’m thinking about missing my family, and how sad they’ll be that I suffocated in a fucking lift!” 

“Rog,” Freddie soothed. “We’re not going to suffocate in here.” 

Roger nodded and sighed tersely. 

“If anything, the car might drop and kill us all that way,” Freddie continued, and Roger let out an angry shout. 

“I’m only thinking aloud, don’t fret!” Freddie protested. “Brian. I’ve had an idea.” 

But Brian, in their moment of conversation, had already popped open the upper panel, and was crawling through it. 

“Oh! We’re on the same page then,” Freddie said, looking up as Brian peered down at him from the open panel space. “You go get help, and we’ll focus on not dying.” 

Brian nodded. “You know if I wasn’t in a good mood, and wasn’t on a weird adrenaline rush from deciding to jump in the pool, I wouldn’t be doing this, right?” 

“Yes,” Freddie said, and turned to rifle through one of his suitcases. “Here. You’ll tear your hands up otherwise trying to get around the cables.” 

Brian reached down and took the leather gloves. The palm side of them had just a bit of extra grip on it, but it seemed like it might be enough to help. “Freddie, why do you have-” 

“Questions for later,” Freddie interrupted. “For now, help.” 

Brian nodded slowly. “Yeah. But you know I’m going to ask again-” 

“I know, I know,” Freddie interrupted again. “And we can get drunk poolside once we’re free, and then I’ll answer that for you. But we can’t do that if we never leave this lift.” 

“This is a terrible idea,” Brian muttered to himself as he took hold of one of the cables, and held on tight as he shimmied down it. The space near the side of the elevator box was incredibly slim, and he’d never been so glad to be as skinny as he was. 

The gloves helped, but they couldn’t soothe the aching that grew in his arms as he made his way down the elevator shaft, couldn’t pause the shaking of his thighs as he wrapped his legs around the cables. What courage he had at the start was rapidly draining away, and he was suddenly very aware of how far away the bottom of the shaft seemed. 

“Thank fucking god,” he muttered as he reached the doors to the first floor. “Now how the fuck do I make you open?” 

“Hello?!” a concerned voice called from the other side of the doors. “Mr. May? Is that you? It’s me, I was helping your bandmates before, and I’ve just finished mopping and...the elevator says it’s at the second floor. How are you here?” 

His arms were screaming, his hands starting to hurt despite the gloves. “Please open the doors!” 

“But...” 

“Open the fucking doors!” Brian spat, louder and more angrily than he meant it. But in fairness, he didn’t want to die by dropping to the bottom of an elevator shaft anymore than he’d wanted to die while trapped in the box of the elevator. 

The doors opened slowly, manually pried open, and the hotel worker greeted him with a face drained of color. “Oh...oh my lord...” 

“The rest of them are trapped on the second floor, or somewhere around there,” Brian said as he took one last bit of energy to push himself off the cable and onto the floor of the lobby. “I’m taking the stairs for the rest of our time here.” 

“Well, one flight is out of service due to maintenance,” the worker stammered. 

“Then I will scale the fucking building to avoid taking that elevator,” Brian sighed, exhausted. “Do you doubt me?” 

“I truly do not,” the worker replied. 

“Good. Now, when you free the rest of them, let them know where to find me,” Brian said as he stood up. He pondered the safety of Freddie’s gloves as he shoved them into the pockets of his jeans, then decided that he would buy him new ones if they got ruined with his next action. 

“The pool?” 

Brian nodded, and ignored everyone watching as he strode to the back area of the hotel, kicked off his clogs near the edge of it, and dropped into the pool like a weight. No ceremony, no care for his clothes, only the need to float on his back and relax for the next few hours. 

And when the rest of the lads finally arrived, grumbling about how long help had taken, not a word was said to him about his dripping all over them when he hugged them. As frustrated and irritated as they had all been with each other, he was incredibly glad (and he knew they were as well) that no one had been hurt in their little adventure. 

That they chose to spend the rest of the night there at the pool, at least partially to avoid having to even think about how to get up to their rooms (that were indeed on the fourth floor, he had been right), was not discussed either, and he found himself perfectly happy to stay in the pool, perhaps well on his way to becoming part fish. 

At least fish didn’t have to climb about, or fear dying in, lifts.


End file.
